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New Delhi, India – Tens of thousands of protesters, mostly students, are expected to march to India’s Parliament from a protest site in the capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his education minister.
For almost a month, the supporters of the “storm” movement occupied the New Delhi area of Jantar Mantar, the most famous place in India, which is located a few kilometers from the parliament, after that. back-to-back scandals related to the leak of exam papers, technical errors and canceled exams caused outrage in the world’s most populous country.
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On Saturday, police forces forcibly removed Sonam Wangchuk from a protest site, 20 days after the 59-year-old Gandhian went on hunger strike in association with a group of cockroaches.
Police cited the court order and Wangchuk’s “impaired health” to prevent the move. But Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, said her husband was taken to hospital against his will and accused the government of “unlawful detention” under the guise of medical treatment.
Angered by Wangchuk’s removal, Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), is now calling for Modi’s resignation and urged his supporters to march in parliament on Monday, the first day of their rainy session.
As thousands responded to Dipke’s call, New Delhi is on the brink of deploying police and army units. Some human rights groups and political parties have expressed their solidarity with the march and have asked people to join them.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Gen Z-led show and how it got here:
What is the movement of cockroaches?
It is made up mainly of young Indians who call themselves “cockroaches”, making themselves survivors of what they see as the political “waste” under the Modi government.
He formed an organization under the CJP, “the people’s party” born of humor after India’s chief justice compared government prosecutors and unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “germs”.
The comment sparked outrage, prompting Dipke, a former student at Boston University, to ask X: “Why would all the cockroaches be together?” The joke struck a chord. A few days later, Dipke launched a page asking people to join her Instagram account after gaining millions of followers.
last month, Dipke arrived in New Delhi from the United States, its goal is to use the Internet to be mobile. The group started with one demand: the dismissal of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was accused of inaction in issuing papers regularly, which has led to death by suicide of many students in the last decade.
South Asia has emerged in recent years as an outlier for Gen Z protests, with India’s neighboring countries of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal seeing massive protests and the fall of unpopular governments. India has the world’s largest Gen Z population, which has faced unemployment, high inequality and sectarian tensions since 2014, as well as the country’s transition to multiple democracies.
What is happening at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi?
The CJP group is demanding major reforms in India’s competitive exams and compensation to the families of students who have died in suicides due to leaks and exam results.
But Pradhan has refused to resign and has referred to the protesters as “B gang”. Modi, who has not held a press conference for more than 12 years but has been active in the media, has not attended these protests.
Meanwhile, Wangchuk, a well-known engineer-turned-teacher from northern Ladakh, continued the hunger strike he started on June 28. He did the same in September, demanding special status for Ladakh, the Himalayan region that the Modi government split from Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019.
Three medical students – Neha Bora, Aameen Amitoj and Manish – joined Wangchuk in the threat of endless hunger. They are members of the All India Students Association (AISA), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).
On Saturday, the police entered the protest site in civilian clothes, took the stage and covered it with white curtains to remove Wangchuk. Images of the operation were circulated on social media, sparking outrage and further protests.
When the police removed a weak Wangchuk from the sit-in stage, they also broke the tents of the AISA students before they were escorted out.
The Delhi Police, which is controlled by the government, repeatedly asked the protesters to leave the site.
Why are protesters marching to parliament?
On July 8, Wangchuk announced plans to go to parliament to demand Pradhan’s resignation.
“If you really want to help, follow more than messages from good beds; then come to Delhi on July 20,” he wrote in an appeal on X, later calling the protests “India’s second freedom movement”.
The choice of this date was deliberate.
Parliament will meet in its monsoon session, one of the three annual sessions it holds, from Monday.
“This march is to reclaim our India. It is a fight for a better future, not only for the students but for this country. People should show up in large numbers and reach the parliament,” Saurav Das, chief spokesperson of the CJP, told Al Jazeera.
“This journey will also decide whether we survive as a country and as a society.”
Mr. Wangchuk and Mr. Dipke have been asking the protestors to be peaceful despite the anger of the Hindu government supporters and the police.
Dipke is sitting hit twice last month, he was beaten up at an event in the city of Jaipur last month and attacked with ink on Saturday.
Dipke intervened on Saturday morning and promised to continue the hunger strike on Wangchuk’s behalf.
“Until now, we wanted Dharmendra Pradhan to resign, but after this scandal, now we want Narendra Modi to resign,” he said.
What does the ‘cockroach’ want?
Jantar Mantar was packed on Saturday evening as thousands turned up after Wangchuk’s forced ouster.
Shreya Kumar, a student at the University of Delhi, said she was shocked by the police’s “disloyal behavior,” she told Al Jazeera at the protest site.
“I came because my blood is boiling. The government has taken everything to get it up. They are liars and liars,” said the 19-year-old student, who joined his friends.
Das, spokesperson for the CJP, said Wangchuk is in illegal detention and the reasons for the detention have not been given to us.
Angmo appealed to the court, that her husband be transferred from the public hospital to a private facility of his choice.
“The actions against Wangchuk were very cruel. It shows that the government does not believe in dialogue, negotiation or dialogue – the three principles of democracy,” said Das.
Kumar, who spent the night at the venue, is worried that the police will be able to subdue the protesters as they prepare to march to the parliament.
“We are all ready to meet the police and the military,” he said. We say: Bring it on! But the minister must resign.
